Fall Of A Friend
by Sebe
Summary: It's a Taiora and a brosis bond thing between Tai and Kari. While battling Piedmon, Taichi saves his sisters life...by risking his own.
1. Default Chapter Title

Note: Another one I just now stumbled across. This was written about 1, maybe 2 years ago, so don't be too harsh. This is TAIORA. It basically starts off in the episode, "The Crest of Friendship." But it by no means follows the plot. I just used the battle.

I hope you like it. Please R+R, but please be kind. I was barely into Middle School when I wrote this. NO FLAMERS!

Disclaimer: ………just go away……….

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Fall Of A Friend part 1

"Get 'em Wargreymon!" Tai shouted

Wargreymon was getting beaten badly by Piedmon and Sora and T.K. hadn't returned with Matt and the others yet. Tai knew that they couldn't win by themselves, but he kept telling Izzy and Kari to stay out of the fight.

"Your digimon might be our last hope!" he shouted. "They need to save up their energy!"

"Tai I wanna help you!" his sister screamed.

"No Kari, you have to stay there. Izzy, keep Kari safe!"

Izzy was trying his best to do what Tai said, but he wasn't sure if his plan would work. Everything depended on the others all making it there in time to help. Wargreymon and Tai had been fighting Piedmon for almost an hour now and there was no sign of him weakening. However, it was quite obvious that neither Tai nor Wargreymon could last much longer against him.

'If only the others would get here, then maybe…' Izzy's train of thought was broken when he heard Tai yell as he was thrown back hard against the ground by another one of Piedmon's attacks.

"Tai!"

Kari wanted desperately to help her brother, but she also believed in him, so she followed his orders and stayed with Izzy and their digimon.

Tai was trying to help Wargreymon win, but he was being hurt by the attacks too. He struggled to get up as Piedmon released another attack.

"Trump Swords!" 

Three vicious looking blades came hurtling at Wargreymon. One sliced the side of his face and another hit his armor. The third one missed him completely, but hit Tai instead. 

"Tai, No!" Kari yelled 

Kari looked on in horror as the sword sliced Tai's arm. She heard her brother cry out in pain and watched him grab his badly bleeding arm as he dropped to his knees on the ground. He tried to stand up again, but couldn't. That was all Kari could take.

"Leave my brother alone!"

She held up her digivice and Gatomon digivolved into Angewoman.

"Kari, don't!" Tai called out, desperation straining his voice.

"I guess we'd better help too Tentomon." Izzy told his friend.

"Right!" 

"Tentomon digivolve to… Megakabuterimon!"

'Great.' Tai thought 'Now Piedmon's going to see them as targets too. Sora…T.K…. Where are you guys?'

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After a bit of an ordeal, Sora, T.K., Matt, Joe, Mimi, and their digimon friends were racing back to the battlefield where Piedmon and the other digidestined were.

"Do you think Tai and the others are alright?" T.K. innocently asked Sora

"I'm sure they are TK, don't worry." She replied. They had been gone for nearly an hour looking for the others and Sora was really worried that they might be too late to help, but she didn't dare show it. 

Matt was also concerned for the safety of his friends. As they got closer to the battlefield he started to have a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him that something was wrong. He only hoped that when they got there, there would still be something to fight for.

"Look! There they are!" Mimi yelled.

The group was close to the battle now. They could all feel the tension in the air, but there was relief too because their friends were still fighting. The relief didn't last long though. They saw two digimon fighting what looked like Piedmon. 

'Two?' Sora thought. 'Only Wargreymon was supposed to be fighting…what's going on…'

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The fight was going badly, Wargreymon was too weak to fight and Angemon and Megakabuterimon were getting whipped. 

Kari looked over at Taichi and saw him slowly getting up. She wanted to run over and help him, but she needed to help Angewoman too.

'We can't beat this guy! Maybe we should've stuck with Tai's plan. Man, Tai's gonna kill me for not trying to stop Kari from getting into the fight.' Izzy's panicked thoughts kept running through his head.

Tai, still holding his injured arm, stood up and ran over to Wargreymon who was lying on his back, totally exhausted.

"Wargreymon! Are you okay buddy?" Tai asked with alarm.

"Yeah, I'm alright, just a little winded." 

His reply was strong and Tai knew he would be all right, but there was no way to win unless the others arrived soon. Tai looked back and saw the battle going on. The digimon weren't winning, but then he saw the other digidestined coming. Matt and Joe riding Garurumon, Mimi and Sora riding Birdramon, and TK being carried by Angemon.

'Alright,' he thought, 'Now we've got a fighting chance.', but soon he realized that it would be a few minutes before they got here and he didn't know if Izzy and Kari could hold out that long.

"Be careful Kari…" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'I've gotta win for Tai.' Kari thought.

"Alright, that's it!" Piedmon said. He released a burst of energy at the two fighting digimon.

"Angewoman, look out!" Kari yelled.

The energy hit Megakabuterimon, but Angewoman dodged it because of Kari's warning.

"What?! Why you annoying little pest! I'll get you!"

Piedmon threw a ball of light at Angewoman. The ball surrounded Angewoman and trapped her inside it.

That's when the other digidestined arrived.

"Piedmon!" Matt yelled. "Now that all of us are here you won't win!"

Piedmon seemed to ignore this comment and the new arrivals all together; his attention was on Kari.

Tai didn't like this one bit, Piedmon was planning something. He looked at his sister and Piedmon and it clicked in his mind what was going to happen. 

"Kari…" Tai's heart raced as he began running to Kari just as Piedmon made his move.

A massive ball of dark energy began to materialize above the clown.

It was then that the others realized that he was aiming at the little girl in front of him who had made him miss his target, Kari.

Piedmon smiled evilly and pointed the energy at the bearer of Light.

"Enjoy your last seconds of life little one. Eternal Dark!'

The energy flew at Kari. No one knew what to do. She was frozen in place, as were the others.

"Kari! Look out!" Tai yelled as he pushed her out of the way.

A blinding light enveloped the entire group. When it faded, and everyone's eyes adjusted, they saw that Kari was kneeling on the ground, blood on either side of her.

The entire group, digimon and all ran up to her, totally ignoring Piedmon, who soon retreated back to his castle to watch the fun.

"Kari!" TK yelled as he ran.

The group approached expecting to find the girl hurt, but as they saw the awful scene, the fear in their eyes turned to sheer terror.

Kari was kneeling on the ground in a pool of blood, but it wasn't her blood. 

Tai lay on his side in front of his crying sister, he wasn't moving.

Sora ran up to her childhood friend and gently turned him over onto his back. His shirt was soaked in blood; she pressed two fingers to his neck feeling for a pulse…she felt nothing. She pressed harder, desperate now for any signs of life. There, she could feel his heat beat, but it was so faint…

Joe ran to them, he was the first one other than Sora to break away from the shock. The others slowly realized what was going on too. Matt told the digimon to take Kari and TK away. He didn't want them to see Tai like that…he didn't want to see Tai like that. 

A bit of a struggle insured as TK tried to pull Kari away from her brother, but she went when he said that they would be in the way.

Matt and the others were now all gathered around their wounded friend. Sora clutched Tai's limp body in her arms protectively, only letting go when Joe began trying to help.

"God…" Matt said under his breath as he looked at Taichi. He saw Joe very carefully push up Tai's shirt so he could see the wound more clearly. It was bad…

'Very bad…' Matt thought. 'How could he survive after that…' but as he looked down at Tai's pale face, he saw the person that had always kept him and the rest of the team going, had always provided them with a way out when they were out of options and had always kept them safe from danger. He saw the friend that had never given up on him and had never let him give up on himself.

'Tai…I'm not going to give up on you either…' Matt thought

"We need to get him out of the open and someplace safe." Joe finally said

Everyone nodded their heads and Matt immediately came over to help Joe carry Tai.

They saw a cave that was only a few yards away and the whole group moved there.

Joe and Matt carefully laid Tai on the ground. Sora and Agumon came up next to Joe. 

"Will he be alright?" Sora asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know, Sora…I don't know…" Joe began to clean and bandage the wounds on Tai's chest and arm.

Matt helped TK and Izzy start a fire while Mimi and Sora helped Joe with Tai. Agumon stayed by his friend's side while the other digimon tried to console Kari who was standing a few feet away from Taichi and the others. 

As hard as the tried, they couldn't get her to move. Her mind was in shock over everything that had happened and as she stood there watching the others try to help her brother all she could do was silently repeat the same words over and over again in her head.

'I'm sorry Tai…It's my fault…I'm so sorry…'

To be continued….

Like it? Tell me. Don't like it. Keep it to yourself. I already have this whole fic written, (except for a few minor adjustments) but I won't post anymore if people don't get out there and review. I don't post things that people don't want. If you like it just say so in your review. 

Those reviews are what determines when, (or if) the next part is posted.

I know I'm evil. Gomen Nasai. But I'm addicted to reviews!!! ^_^


	2. Default Chapter Title

Next part out so soon?!?!?! It was because of all the great reviews? Keep 'em coming!

To a reviewer: I don't really think I'm going to finish Tragedy. If I do, it won't be for a while. At least until summer vacation. I still really like that fic. I'm just out of ideas for it and none of the ones I received (although great) really fit into it. I hope to write more so still look for it….just not ANY time soon.

Disclaimer: If I really owned Digimon, do you actually think I would've replaced the wonderful original digidestined with those half-baked idiots?!?! (except for TK and Kari) I'm a Davis hater extrordinare…unless he's paired with Ken, 'cause then it's just too cute!!!….I'm sorry….

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Fall Of A Friend part 2

Joe tied the last bandage on Taichi's arm as the rest of the group walked over.

"How is he?" Matt asked, worry evident in his voice.

Joe looked up into his friends faces, each was filled with fear and dread; then down onto Tai. He wasn't used to seeing him looking so weak. Tai was always the one who ran ahead of the group when everyone else was too tired to move. He was always so energetic. You couldn't keep him still for anything in the world…

"Joe?"

"I've done everything I can, everything I know how to do…I just hope it's enough." Joe then got up and walked away from the others. And after a little hesitation to leave Tai's side, Matt and Mimi ran after Joe followed by Izzy and Sora.

"Joe…tell us…" Izzy said. "How is he?"

"I told you-"

"Look, Kari and TK aren't here right now, so tell us the truth. We need to know if we're going to help him." Matt reasoned.

"…It's bad…the wounds are really deep…and…" Joe's voice trailed off, almost as if the next words hurt to say them.

"And what…Joe…and what…?" Sora insisted, growing more fearful with each passing moment of silence.

"Poison…Piedmon's attack wasn't just an attack it was laced with poison."

Startled, they all stood trying to process this and Sora began to silently cry.

"H…how bad is it, Joe?" Izzy squeaked out.

"I don't know, I don't know anything about the poison, but he's already got a slight fever." 

"Will he make it?" The question that everyone wanted answered but was too afraid to ask Mimi finally put up.

"He…he's already so weak from the attack, and now this…but if anyone can survive this it would be Tai." Joe tried to sound reassuring.

"…Yeah… yeah, Tai's strong," Matt sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "He'll fight this."

"You're right Matt." Sora said, finally calming down. "Tai'll fight with everything he has, he won't lose…"

The group looked behind them at Kari and TK with the digimon all gathered around Tai. Kari holding her brother's hand and never taking her tear filled eyes off of his closed ones.

"He can't…"

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On top of Spiral Mountain…

"Oh, this is priceless! I never imagined things to work out this well. With their leader in such grave condition those digidestined will never be able to fend off my attacks!"

"Yes, but be careful Piedmon, don't underestimate them." Said one of his wiser flunkies. "An opponent backed into a corner is often the most dangerous one."

"They have no chance to win!" Piedmon growled. "They can't defeat me without their leader, he had the most powerful digimon. Too bad for them he didn't have the best sense. If he would've let the attack hit that smaller digidestined they might have stood a chance against me, but the fool chose to save his sister."

"But Lord Piedmon, the other digidestined will most certainly try to save the boy."

"It doesn't matter. They can try whatever they want, it won't work."

"How can you be so sure?"

"That fool jumped in front of one of my most powerful attacks. It contained one of the deadliest poisons in the digiworld." Piedmon cackled. "Even if he manages to survive the wounds, which I doubt, the poison will finish the job. Courage will shine no more!…And I don't like all your questions." Piedmon turned around. "Maybe this will teach you to hold your tongue!" Piedmon raised a finger and the digimon was blown into oblivion.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"Humph…questioning me…Oh well, he'll have company soon enough. That boy won't last the night. They'll never be able to save him, they don't even know that the poison is still being put into his body as we speak."

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The digidestined had all reluctantly fallen asleep, all except Sora who was sitting by her friend's side. 

'Tai…You can't leave me, I never told you how I felt…' She was staring into the fire when she heard a soft moan come from Taichi. She looked to her side and saw his head turn a little bit.

"Tai?" Sora asked, worry and hope both edging into her voice.

No response.

"Tai? Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Sora pressed a hand to Tai's forehead. She gasped and quickly drew her hand back in shock. 

"God…" He was burning up with fever. She instinctively ran to wake up Joe.

The bearer of Reliability ran to Tai's side with Gomamon trailing behind. He was expecting the fever to be high, but even he was surprised. It had come on so fast…too fast.

All the commotion had woken Matt and Gabumon and they walked over to where Joe and Sora were. 

Agumon and Biyomon who had been next to Sora and Tai now joined them.

"What's going on?" Matt asked groggily. 

Shaking his head a bit, he now saw Joe and Sora clearly, fear etched into their faces as they leaned over Tai. Matt was now fully awake and terror struck him.

"What happened?" he asked with more urgency.

"Tai's fever spiked way up."

Joe put two fingers to Tai's neck, feeling for a pulse. 

"Damn…" he said under his breath, but the others heard him.

"What?! What is it?!" Sora asked, starting to panic.

"His pulse is even weaker than before and he's barely breathing." 

"No…" Matt whispered.

"We gotta get his fever down or he's not gonna make it." Joe got a cloth out of his bag. "Matt get that water canteen. Agumon get a bowl. Sora hold this." He said handing her the cloth.

"Okay"

"Here" Matt and Agumon said handing the bowl and water to Sora.

Sora dipped the cloth in the cool water and gently laid it on Tai's head. Agumon then noticed that Tai was shivering.

"Joe, Tai's shaking." Agumon alerted him, alarmed.

Joe noticed Tai's eyes were tightly closed as sweat rolled down his face.

"Joe, what's wrong? Why's he shaking?" Biyomon asked.

"Is he cold?" Gomamon wondered aloud.

Joe looked at Tai.

"No, he's shaking from the pain…It must be bad…"

Sora shuddered at this. When Tai hurt, it hurt her too; she could almost feel his pain and wanted so much to help him.

"Can't we do anything?" 

"…No…Maybe if we were home, but I don't have anything here. We would need morphine or something and we have no way to get it."

They all looked pained at this. By that time, all the others were waking up and slowly making their way over to Matt and the others.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Mimi asked

"Tai's gotten worse…" Matt replied, not looking up.

"No…" Kari gasped. 

"Is there anything we can do" Izzy's shaky voice showed that he was worried for his friend. The computer obsessed child hardly ever showed his emotions.

"I don't know what to do." Joe said.

Just then Tai let out a soft moan and Kari saw blood seeping through the bandages on her brother's chest. The others saw it too.

"One of his wounds must've reopened." Joe started to undo the bandages.

He got a clean cloth and pressed down on Tai's open wound, but then he saw something.

"What is that?" 

Sora saw it too. It looked like a small piece of metal; it was barely noticeable, that's why Joe didn't see it earlier.

"I'm not sure." Sora reached out and it shocked her. She jerked her hand away and Tai groaned in pain. 

"What was that?!" 

"…Poison…" Izzy whispered. He began to type rapidly on his computer and brought up Piedmon's profile as the others turned to look at him.

"Izzy, what are you talking about?" Mimi asked.

"Here! I got it!" he cried

Everyone except Sora, who was now holding Tai in her arms, gathered around Izzy.

"This is the attack that Piedmon used on Tai." He said. "It says here that Eternal Dark is an extremely powerful attack that is often laced with poison…"

"We already KNOW that." Matt growled, getting a little frustrated with the redhead.

"Yeah, but look what it says here. Eternal Dark is one of the most vicious attacks in the digiworld, it is always used with the intention to kill so that even if the initial attack doesn't kill the target the poisoned dart implanted within the target will eventually finish the job."

"So that's it." Joe said.

"Well, we have to get it out of him!" Kari practically yelled.

Joe looked at Izzy's computer at the image of what the dart looked like. He and Izzy exchanged a knowing glance.

"What is it you two?" TK asked

"Yeah, what is it?" Mimi mimicked.

"Well, the dart is so far into his chest that…" Joe trailed off.

"That what Joe?" Kari was afraid for her brother.

"…That to get it out we have to cut into him…" Izzy finished. "And I'm not sure if he's strong enough to survive that."

"I don't think he could survive it if he was in perfect health…" Joe added, "It would just hurt him too much."

Everyone stood in shock at this news. They were all thinking that with the realization of what was making him sick, Tai would be okay, but now…

Sora still sat with Tai's limp body in her arms. At this news she tightened her hold on him desperately and buried her face in his chestnut brown hair. She was trying to be strong, trying as hard as she could not to cry again. She knew she had to keep her composure for the others sake, especially Kari, who she could hear crying and screaming uncontrollably while the others tried to comfort her, but then she looked down onto Tai. 

His eyes were closed and his face was pure white; but against that white background, Sora saw a small drop of blood running down his cheek.

With all the blood Sora had seen when Joe was first trying to help Tai, with all the pain she had seen him experience already, it was this one small drop of blood that made her think of what was going to happen to him now, what had to happen, what had to be done to try and save him. And it was this one small drop of blood that finally broke Sora as she gently laid her head against Tai's burning hot forehead and cried.

To be continued…

Did you like it??? There's four parts in this one all together, do you want more???…Then review!

I hope you liked it. Arigato for reading. No flames!


	3. Default Chapter Title

They keep coming, huh? This is the next to last in the series. I hope you like it. If you do, tell me so I can post more, kay? 

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Fall Of A Friend part 3
    
    Pain…

Horrible pain like Taichi Kamiya had never experienced before shot through him. 

It wasn't just a short burst every now and then either; it was a terrible wave of agony that coursed through him, sometimes lasting for what seemed like hours. 

Even when it would decrease for a minute it would come back twice as strong.

'Where am I?' he thought. "It hurts so much…what happened to me?'

Tai's mind flashed with images of Piedmon, then Wargreymon and the other digidestined fighting, then…

'Kari!' Tai thought. 'Kari, she was about to be hit by that attack that Piedmon released and I jumped in the way. Did I make it in time? Is she okay?'

Tai then felt himself being lifted in the air, not all the way off the ground just from his waist up. He felt arms around him, holding him tightly. He heard noises and voices, but they all seemed so far away. They slowly became clearer as Tai could now make out voices that he recognized. All of his friends, he could hear them. He could hear someone crying in the background too, he recognized it as his sister. He then felt the arms that held him tighten around him even more as something cold hit his face. 

He could feel the small drop of water land on his cheek and slowly roll down his cheek. Just thinking about opening his eyes hurt, but very slowly, he did. 

Everything was a blur at first. Then he saw pieces of light red hair dangling in front of his eyes. He felt like someone had their head resting on his as another teardrop fell on his face. 

The blurs slowly began to fade and he could see that it was Sora who was holding him. She was crying and didn't see him looking up at her through his barely open slit eyes. 

'Is she crying over me?' he thought. 

He tried to tell her that he was okay, that there was no reason for her to be crying, but just then another wave of pain washed over him, silencing any comments he had intended to make. All he could do was moan very softly as the pain intensified.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sora stopped sobbing for a moment as she thought she heard a noise from Tai. 

She looked down at him and saw that his eyes were open the smallest bit. 

"Tai?" she asked, not quite believing it. "Tai!" 

"H…hi…So-Sora…" he managed when the pain subsided a little.

"Tai…" Kari whispered. She stopped crying and began to run to her fallen brother. 

The others followed her, hoping that this wasn't all in their imagination.

"Tai, you're awake…you're all right…" Sora said, her voice cracking for a moment. She loosened her grip on Tai and laid him so that his head was on her arm and he was lying almost flat on the ground. 

"Yeah…I'm al, alright…"Tai said in an obviously strained voice. "So…you…you can stop crying…okay? I hate it…when you cry…"

Sora was taken back by this. He was lying there so weak and in so much pain, but he was still concerned about her. She didn't respond. How could she? She just looked down into his warm chocolate brown eyes, so full of compassion and concern, and smiled. 

The others were there now and they immediately wanted to make sure they weren't seeing things. 

"Tai…?" Kari approached her brother and kneeled down beside him taking his hand. 

"Kari…" Tai said weakly. "Are you alright? Did you get away?"

Kari heard the genuine concern in her brother's voice and tears welled up in her eyes. 

"Yeah Tai. I'm okay, because of you." Kari squeezed Tai's hand. 

It was something they had been doing since they were little. Whenever Kari got scared or worried about something Tai would tell her to just squeeze his hand as hard as she could and he would squeeze back as hard as he could. Then everything would always be okay. 

But now, the same thing that had always made her feel safe was threatening to make her heart break in half at any moment. Kari could tell that her brother barely had the strength to squeeze her hand back.

"Tai, I'm so sorry. This is my fault, Tai I'm so, so sorry. If I had just moved then…"

"No, Kari. It's not your fault." 

"But, Tai…"

"It's not your fault." Tai stated again. "You didn't do anything, Kari. So quit blaming yourself." He barely got the words out before more pain set in, but he didn't show any of it and started again. "Besides, I'll be fine, okay? So just don't worry."

"He's right Kari." Matt said. "If anyone is to blame it's Piedmon and we'll get him soon."

"Hey Matt." Tai tried to lift his head a little and then stopped as the pain hit him

"How do you feel Tai?" Matt cautiously approached his friend and stood behind Kari. 

"I'm okay. Just a little tired." Tai said trying to hide how he really felt so that his friends wouldn't worry. 

The illusion Tai was trying to create though was soon shattered as the worst jolt of pain yet hit his body. His fists clenched and his eyes closed tightly. He felt a scream rising in his throat, but quickly silenced it and it came out only as a little moan.

Sora's heart felt like it was going to tear apart right then. It was so obvious that Tai was hurting…She motioned for Joe to come over and look at Tai. Kari and Matt reluctantly moved as Joe took their place. Joe put two fingers to Tai's neck to check his pulse. It wasn't good. He looked at Tai's wound and noticed that he seemed to be having a little trouble breathing. 

'Probably from all the poison…' Joe thought grimly. 

He shot Izzy a glance. The others saw the look. Almost as if on cue, they all left so that Joe and Izzy could explain the situation to Tai. Only Sora, who was still holding him, stayed. 

Joe then looked down at Tai again. He was desperately trying to hold onto consciousness, but Joe knew he couldn't much longer. That was good though, he didn't want Tai to be awake when they started to cut him.

"Tai…" Izzy began.

"I know…I know what you're going to do."

Izzy, Joe and Sora all exchanged puzzled glances.

"How?" Joe asked

."I don't know. I just kind of have a feeling."

"It…it's going to hurt Tai. Even if you are unconscious. It'll be ten times worse than now…" Izzy stated

"Look, I trust you guys. I know that whatever you do, it's for the best." Tai gave them a weak smile

."Tai…we will do everything we can. I promise…we won't let you die." Joe swore, shimmers of tears in his eyes.

"I know. Just keep Kari away, okay? She's already pretty high strung. I don't think she needs that."

"We will Tai…just hold on for a little longer." Izzy once again showed his rare emotions.

"Yeah…" Tai simply replied. Everything was beginning to get blurry again and he was getting a little dizzy.

"I'll stay right there with you Tai." Sora said suddenly. "I won't leave you…I never will."

Joe coughed and he and Izzy quietly excused themselves.

"Sora…"

"Just listen for a minute Tai. I knew it even before you were hurt…before all of this. I knew how I felt, but I couldn't say it. I was scared, scared that you would reject me. Scared that the person that I cared for the most would push me away. But I'm not scared now Tai. I love you. I've loved you for as long as I can remember.

"Sora…" 

"And if you don't feel the same it's okay. I mean…"

"Sora."

"I'll understand. But right now all I want is to stay beside you no matter what and…"

"Sora." 

"Huh?"

"I love you too Sora." Tai said, a slight smile on his face.

"R-Really?" Sora was elated. 

"Yeah. I've loved you ever since that time we were playing soccer when we were three. You ran into a tree when your helmet fell over your eyes." Tai started to laugh a little at this, ignoring the pain for once.

"Then? Why then Tai?" 

"I saw you hit the tree and fall, but when I got to you, you were sitting up and you just looked out at me from under your helmet and smiled."

Sora laughed a little. 

"Yeah, I remember. You were really concerned about me, but I was fine."

"Then your mom called you and you kissed me on the cheek before you ran off."

"Yeah. It was the happiest moment of my life when I realized you cared about me." She looked down at Tai and saw his eyes closing a bit.

"I've always cared about you…Sora." Tai could feel his strength failing him. "And… no matter what…I'll always protect you…"

"Tai…?" Sora was growing more and more concerned as Tai's voice got softer and softer until she could barely hear him.

"Always…Sora…Always…" Tai's eyes closed as the darkness swept over him.

"Tai? Tai! Can you hear me? Tai! It's Sora, wake up!"

"It's okay Sora." Joe kneeled beside Tai, checking his pulse. Evidently he had heard her cries. 

"He's just unconscious. He'll be okay."

Sora sighed with relief, but the worry didn't leave her. 

"You're sure?" 

"I'm sure. He needs to sleep anyway. We need to get that thing out of him and it's better if he's unconscious."

Sora shuddered as she thought once again of what was to come. Joe got up and went to get ready.

"I won't leave Tai. No matter what. I'll stay by your side forever…" she gripped his limp hand in hers and bent down to kiss his forehead, his fever still blazing. "I'll never leave you, my love" she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his castle, Piedmon could sense a renewed sense of power in the crests of love and courage.

"But courage should be dead by now!" he thought. Piedmon began to get nervous. "Very well, I had intended to just wait until they resurfaced with one less digidestined, but now I'll hunt them down and kill them myself."

Piedmon left his castle on top of Spiral Mountain with an evil grin on his face. 

"This is the end for all of you digidestined. Prepare yourselves for the end, digidoomed!"

To be continued…

Last part coming up!!….if ya want it. Please R+R. No flames. One reviewer said that there wasn't any real romance in the last parts so I hope this was a little better. This next part is quite long so it should make up for these short chapters that I've been putting out. Anyway, tell me what you think. _Please????? _Arigato.


	4. Default Chapter Title

Last part. This is a little gory, but not too much. It's still Taiora and I hope you liked this series. Please R+R??? Arigato for reading.

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Fall Of A Friend part 4

Kari and TK had already been sent outside into the woods with the digimon. The others had decided that since all of them had to stay to help Joe, then all the digimon should go with TK and Kari to protect them. 

"I wanna go back TK." Kari said when they were already deep in the forest.

"Kari…they told us not to come back for a couple hours, they need to work on Tai…"

"That's exactly why I want to go back! Tai's my brother, I want to be there for him. I want to help him."

"Kari." Agumon spoke up. "I know how you feel. I want to help Tai too. He's my best friend and it hurts to know that he's suffering, but I know that the best thing I can do for him right now is to keep you and TK safe. And the best thing you can do for him is to _stay _safe so that you _can_ help him when he needs you."

"I-I know, Agumon…it's just that I…" Kari drifted off "It's my fault Tai was hurt."

"Are you still thinking that?!" TK questioned. "It wasn't your fault Kari. No one blames you. Tai even told you it wasn't your fault and so did Matt."

"It doesn't matter! I'm still the one who Tai was trying to protect! If I would've just moved a few seconds sooner…"

"Okay Kari, look. Do you remember when Tai took you out to play soccer when you were sick that time and you got a lot worse?" 

"…Yes."

"Well, how did you feel when Tai kept blaming himself even though you told him it wasn't your fault?"

"I, I felt awful. He kept saying it was his fault when I told him it was mine."

"Well, now the roles are switched, right?" TK half asked half stated. "Do you want Tai to feel the same way you did? To feel bad because you won't forgive yourself for something that wasn't your fault?"

"TK…No. You're right it wasn't my fault and I won't make Tai feel bad. It was Piedmon who did this to my brother. If anyone should feel bad it should be him!"

"Aw, such an introduction." Said a voice from behind them. "But, I really don't feel bad at all."

The digimon readied themselves in a fighting position, ready to defend the two children.

"We gotta go get the others!" TK shouted.

"No!" Kari said, "They're busy helping Tai. We've got to take care of this on our own."

"But our digimon are the only ones able to digivolve. The others are too far away."

"Then we'll beat him with just our digimon. 

'This is it, this is how I'm going to help Tai.'

TK looked at Kari. She had a determined glare in her eyes, but where he expected to see complete hatred for the one that tried to kill her brother, he saw only a flare of confidence that they could win.

"Okay, Kari. We can beat him!"

"Hmmm. This should be amusing." Piedmon said with a grin.

"Gatomon, digivolve!" Kari commanded

"Patamon, you too!"

"Gatomon digivolve to…Angewoman!"

"Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!"

"ATTACK!"

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While this was happening…

Joe and Matt had laid Tai in an open part of the cave where there weren't many rocks around so Joe would have more room. Still unconscious, Tai was flat on his back, his arms out to the sides with the others gathered around him. Joe got ready and the others took their positions. Joe had informed them that even though Tai knew what was going to happen and he was unconscious his body would still naturally react to the pain by trying to get away from it, so everyone, excluding Joe, was to hold him down. Mimi was holding Tai's right leg, Izzy his left. Matt was holding Tai's left arm down and Sora his right. Joe was kneeling over Tai on his left side. He had a knife lying next to him. 

Joe took the knife in his hand and gave a silent signal to the others to get ready. 

"How long will it take?" Sora asked

"I'll try to hurry, but I can't go too fast or it could paralyze him. It should take about a half-hour…"

Sora nodded her head silently and Joe positioned the knife over Tai's chest. He took a deep breath and plunged the knife deep into his friend's flesh. Taichi cried out in pain and his friends struggled to hold him down. 

"It's okay Tai." Sora told him "Calm down, it'll be alright…you'll be fine." She was trying to keep her eyes focused on Tai, but she looked up for a moment and saw all the blood pooling on either side of him. She quickly looked back down at his face, trying to remain calm. 

Mimi was still trying to hold Tai's right leg down as she had been instructed to do. She hadn't said much through this whole ordeal, but she was scared. Not for herself or the others because of Piedmon, but for Tai. He was like a brother to her. What would she do if she lost her brother?

'Please Tai…' Mimi said in her head 'please keep living. Don't make us lose you…'

Sora was holding Tai's hand with one of her hands and holding his arm down with the other. She watched the erratic rise and fall of his chest. He could barely breath. His face was a dead white and he was still burning up with fever. Her heart broke in two as she watched Tai struggle to get even a little air to his lungs. All she could do was try to ease his suffering with her words. 

"It'll be okay Tai…I promise."

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"Go Angewoman!" Kari yelled to her friend.

"This is pathetic!" Piedmon easily deflected the digimon's attacks. 

The digimon that couldn't digivolve tried to fight, but were quickly knocked out. Now Angemon and Angewoman were the only ones fighting.

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Hand of Fate!"

The attacks flew at Piedmon.

"Ha!" 

He simply raised his hand and the attacks disappeared.

"No!" TK screamed

Kari looked hard at Piedmon.

'I will win.' She thought, 'I have to.'

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Tai's eyes flew open.

"Kari!"

"No, Tai. It's me. It's Sora." She looked down at him with concern.

It was then that Tai noticed the excruciating pain coming from his chest.

"Ugh…" he refused to give in to his instincts and scream bloody murder like he wanted to.

"It's okay Tai." Matt said, "Joe's almost done. Just a few more minutes."

"Ka-ri…" Tai managed. "Where…is she?"

"Shhh…" Sora softly commanded him. "She and TK are in the forest with the digimon, she's fine Tai. Now don't try to talk, okay?"

"S, she's in trouble." Tai moaned

"All the digimon are with them, they'll be fine." Mimi said. "Just lie still."

"No, they…" Tai began

"Tai." Joe said. "I can get the dart, but I'm gonna have to push the knife a lot harder so brace yourself, okay." 

Tai nodded his head slightly. He could see that Joe was ghostly pale. He'd never done anything like this before so he was pretty freaked.

When Tai nodded, Joe put all his weight on the knife and it was rammed farther into Tai.

Tai could feel the cold metal of the knife sliding deeper into his chest, ripping through his veins and producing a great deal of blood. But before he could scream, he heard his sister's voice. She needed his help.

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"Ahhhhh!" Kari and TK were thrown back to the ground. 

Angemon and Angewoman, along with the rest of the digimon were lying on the ground, too weak to fight.

"Now to finish you digidestined off!" Piedmon slowly started to approach TK and Kari.

Kari didn't know what to do. The digimon couldn't protect them and her and TK couldn't do anything. Instinctively, Kari called out to the one person who had always protected her and kept her safe from all danger.

"TAI!"

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"Kari!" Tai yelled

He heard her voice in his heart and knew that she needed him. 

Tai felt a river of his own warm blood run down his chest and make it's way up to his neck before spilling to the side and pooling on the ground to the left of his head.

Joe then gave the knife one last good push and it went into Tai's chest as deep as it could.

"I have to help her!" was the one thought on Tai's mind as his crest began to glow brilliantly and he let out an anguished scream. He wasn't screaming out of the pain, but out of love. Out of the pure desire to help his little sister and his crest glowed brighter still.

"KARI!"

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"This is the end for you digidestined!" Piedmon said "Say goodbye!…huh?!"

Kari's crest began to glow radiantly.

"Tai…" she whispered knowingly.

An incredibly bright light engulfed the children and digimon and they were all healed. Then Agumon felt a sudden rush of power. He simply smiled at Piedmon.

"Agumon warpdigivolve to…Wargreymon!"

Angewoman, Angemon, and Wargreymon led the attack and the others helped with their powers. Wargreymon was fighting like he'd never fought before. They all attacked Piedmon before he had a chance to retaliate.

"Curse you digidestined! Next time…" with that he flew off to his castle in defeat.

"We did it!" TK shouted

He and the digimon were all jumping around celebrating.

"No…" came a voice from behind them. "Tai did it."

Kari looked at her crest and smiled before she spun around to TK and the others.

"We all won!" she yelled happily. "C'mon, let's go tell Tai!"

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When they got back to the cave Izzy, Joe, Matt and Mimi were sitting around the fire. Kari glanced around and her eyes landed on one spot. There was an incredible amount of blood pooled on the floor and a bloodied knife lay amidst it. 

'No….Taichi…'

"Where's Tai?" she asked, worry and terror warring inside her.

"It's okay Kari. He and Sora are in the back." Joe replied. He was still shaking from what had just happened. He _never_ wanted to do that again.

"H-how, I mean. Is he…" TK stuttered.

"He's fine." Matt told his brother reassuringly. "He just needs a little rest."

"Really?!" Kari asked excitedly

"Really. He just needs to rest for a week or so while the poison wears off and he should be able to walk."

"He should be completely recovered in as little as two or three months." Izzy added

"Can I go see him?" Kari asked

"Sure."

Kari ran off to see her brother as TK settled down to tell the others about what happened and how Tai had saved them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sora was sitting next to Tai. His head was on her lap as she gently stroked the side of his face. He was still pale because of all the blood he had lost, but some color had returned to his cheeks.

Tai's eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times before finally focusing on Sora.

She smiled when she saw that he was awake.

"Hey." She said softly

"Hey…" Tai's voice was weak and strained.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine." He said, then winced when the pain from his chest reached him.

"Uh-huh, sure you do" Sora said sarcastically.

She knew there was no way he'd feel 'Fine' for a few more weeks yet. He was still running an incredibly high fever and Sora noticed he was shaking. She reached over to her side and dipped a cloth in cool water, then she gently placed the cloth on Tai's forehead. He closed his eyes and felt a little relief wash over him as she laid the cool rag against his hot skin. 

"Joe said that you should be strong enough to walk in about a week and you'll be completely recovered in two or three months."

This sounded like a long time to Tai. He had always hated to be taken care of by others. He didn't like feeling helpless and preferred to be self-sufficient.

"No way." Tai tried to yell, but it came out as more of a whisper. "I'm fine now."

He tried to get up to demonstrate, but as soon as he tried to move he felt the pain intensify. It was a hot fire pain that threatened to sear his insides. He let out a small gasp and quickly lay back down. 

Sora caught Tai as he lay down again and frowned. He had his eyes tightly closed and beads of sweat were apparent on his face. He had his mouth open a little, trying to breathe.

"You have to try and stay still Tai. You're just going to make your wounds worse if you move around."

After a minute Tai was finally able to speak. "O-okay…" he said between agonized breaths. "But that doesn't me…mean I l-like it…"

Sora smiled. 

"I know how much you hate to be taken care of Tai, but you really need to relax and let me and the others help you now." She ran her fingers through his messy brown hair.

Tai just smiled. Her touch made him relax a bit and some of the pain was gone. 

"Thanks, Sora." 

"No problem, Tai. What are girlfriends for?"

Tai looked up at her quizzically. She caught his stare.

"What? You thought I was delirious when I said I loved you?" she asked him with a sly smile on her face.

Tai smiled back. 

"No, I just thought I was dreaming."

Sora started to cry a little.

"What's wrong?" Tai was alarmed.

"Y-you scared me so much Taichi." She said through sobs. "I thought I was going to lose you and…"

Tai stopped her as he sat up. He winced, but ignored it. He looked into her eyes.

" I will always be with you. I'll never leave no matter what."

Sora slowly stopped crying and looked at Tai. 

"I love you Taichi Kamiya." She leaned in to kiss him.

"I love you Sora Takenouchi." Tai too leaned in for a kiss.

Their lips touched and locked. Neither of them moved, not wanting to break the magical spell that seemed to have been cast upon them. Not even when Kari entered did the two lovers budge.

"Whoa!" was the only sound that escaped her mouth, but it was enough to summon the other digidestined.

"Hey Kari what's…whoa!" Izzy came to the same conclusion as Kari as he pulled up beside her.

"What?" was all Joe had time to say before his mouth fell open and practically hit the floor.

Mimi came upon the scene and just smiled at the two.

"Way to go, man!" Matt yelled 

TK came up. His eyes grew very wide and then he smiled.

Through all of this, neither Sora nor Tai moved. To them they were the only two people in the universe. When they finally did stop kissing a few minutes later. They opened their eyes only to discover that they had quite a large audience. 

Sora quickly stood up. Tai tried, but failed as more pain hit him.

Sora began to stutter uncontrollably as Tai just sat there smiling. They were both blushing, and both looked incredibly happy. 

The others just smiled and nodded at Sora's rushed and jumbled explanation, which didn't even make any sense. Finally she stopped, sighed and kneeled down next to Tai again.

The others looked at the two and nodded to each other.

"Not too much kissing until you're well again Tai." Joe joked as he left.

"Yeah, just try not to suffocate each other." Matt said with an evil grin and followed Joe.

"Good choice Sora, he's a cutie!" Mimi exclaimed smiling. This only caused Sora to blush even more as "Good going Sora. He's a cutie." Mimi's comment only caused Sora to blush harder as the girl left.

"Statistically, I knew from the start that you two would get together, you're perfect for each other." Izzy then walked out.

TK just looked at the two and giggled to himself as he left.

Kari then approached her brother. 

"Tai…I'm so happy that you're okay, but don't do that again."

Tai smiled 

"I'll try not to Kari." 

"Tai…" she could feel that she was about to cry. She ran into her older brother's arms. She pressed her head against his chest and started to sob.

Tai's chest felt like it was on fire again as Kari pressed her head into it. 

Sora cringed at this. She knew Kari was hurting him. She was about to tell Kari to quit, but Tai stopped her. It was hurting him, sure, but Tai was just happy to be able to comfort his little sister. He put his arms around her and smiled.

"It's okay Imouto. I'm alright."

Kari looked up at him through tear filled eyes.

"Thank you, Tai. You're the best older brother anyone could ever have." 

With that she got up and started to leave. She suddenly turned around and faced Sora.

"Be nice to my brother or you'll have ME to answer to." She smiled and then left the two alone.

Sora saw that Tai was getting weak again and grabbed his shoulders to steady him. She gently laid him down, his head in her lap.

"Try to get some sleep Tai. You need to rest."

"Yes ma'am" Tai said sarcastically as he smiled weakly up at her. His eyes slowly closed and he was out in a matter of minutes.

Sora looked down at his sweet, silent, face. 

'Don't worry Kari, I'll take care of him.'

With that Sora cradled Tai closer to her and brushed a stubborn strand of brown hair away from his face. She stroked Tai's forehead and ran her fingers through his hair. Then she began humming a song that they had loved as children and still made them feel happy when they were down. As she hummed Tai smiled a little. He knew she'd always try to protect him just like he would her. 

'Always, Sora.' He thought

'Always…'

The End

Did you like it? Remember, much younger. I promise my next one will be better, I'm getting some help finishing it. Please R+R. No flames even though I know this part deserves them. *sigh* I'm sorry. I just had to post this so that no one would get mad that I didn't finish the series. I know it stunk, but really, the next one will be infinitely better.

Arigato to all of you who read this whole thing. You are indeed brave people. I hope you enjoyed it.


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